Maintenance Planning and Control Course

Lesson 1 • Core Maintenance Terminology

Introduces standardized vocabulary used throughout the course. Precise terminology enables clear communication across planning, operations, and finance teams.

Lesson 2 • Role of Maintenance in Operations

Defines maintenance's strategic position within production and asset management. Establishes why effective maintenance directly affects output quality, safety, and profitability.

Lesson 3 • Maintenance Organization Structures

Examines centralized, decentralized, and hybrid organizational models. Structure choice affects resource utilization, response time, and accountability.

Lesson 4 • Introduction to Asset Criticality

Presents methods for ranking assets by their failure consequence. Criticality ranking drives resource allocation and strategy selection in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • Priority and Classification Systems

Establishes frameworks for assigning urgency and work type to each order. Consistent classification enables accurate backlog management and resource scheduling.

Lesson 2 • Work Request and Approval Workflow

Defines the process from initial request submission to authorized work order. A controlled approval workflow filters unnecessary work and aligns spending with priorities.

Lesson 3 • Work Order Purpose and Structure

Explains what a work order captures and why each data field matters. A well-structured work order is the foundation of all planning and historical analysis.

Lesson 4 • Work Order Lifecycle

Traces a work order from creation through closure and archiving. Understanding the full lifecycle prevents data gaps that distort planning and reporting.

Lesson 1 • Bill of Materials and Parts Planning

Covers how to identify, specify, and reserve parts for planned jobs. Accurate parts planning is the single largest driver of schedule compliance.

Lesson 2 • Job Plan Library and Continuous Improvement

Establishes a reusable library of standard job plans updated after each execution. A living library reduces planning time and captures craft knowledge.

Lesson 3 • The Planner Role and Responsibilities

Defines what a maintenance planner does and does not do. Clear role boundaries prevent planners from being pulled into supervisory or execution tasks.

Lesson 4 • Developing Detailed Job Plans

Guides creation of step-by-step task instructions with time estimates. Detailed plans enable consistent execution regardless of technician experience level.

Lesson 1 • Capacity Planning and Resource Loading

Teaches how to calculate available crew hours and match them to work demand. Accurate capacity loading prevents overcommitment and chronic schedule slippage.

Lesson 2 • Schedule Performance Measurement

Defines schedule compliance metrics and root-cause analysis of missed schedules. Measurement drives the feedback loop that continuously improves scheduling accuracy.

Lesson 3 • Daily Scheduling and Crew Assignment

Covers supervisor-level daily scheduling and real-time adjustments. Daily scheduling translates the weekly plan into specific technician assignments.

Lesson 4 • Weekly Schedule Development

Walks through the weekly scheduling meeting and schedule package preparation. A well-prepared weekly schedule aligns operations, maintenance, and materials teams.

Lesson 1 • PM Program Design Principles

Introduces the logic behind selecting PM tasks based on failure modes. Tasks must address specific failure causes to deliver reliability value rather than false assurance.

Lesson 2 • Setting and Optimizing PM Frequencies

Covers methods for establishing initial intervals and adjusting them with failure data. Frequency optimization balances failure risk against maintenance cost and resource load.

Lesson 3 • PM Program Review and Optimization

Establishes a periodic review process to eliminate, modify, or add PM tasks. Continuous optimization prevents program bloat and keeps resources focused on value-adding work.

Lesson 4 • PM Task Types and Selection

Distinguishes inspection, servicing, restoration, and discard tasks by their applicability conditions. Selecting the right task type maximizes reliability gain per maintenance dollar.

Lesson 1 • Backlog Aging and Analysis

Applies aging analysis to identify stalled and at-risk work orders. Age distribution reveals planning bottlenecks, parts shortages, and access coordination failures.

Lesson 2 • Backlog Metrics and Reporting

Defines KPIs that quantify backlog health and trend over time. Consistent reporting enables management decisions on staffing, contracting, and capital investment.

Lesson 3 • Risk-Based Work Prioritization

Applies risk scoring to rank competing work orders objectively. Risk-based ranking ensures the most consequential failures are addressed before lower-impact work.

Lesson 4 • Understanding Maintenance Backlog

Defines backlog components and distinguishes healthy from unhealthy backlog levels. A managed backlog provides scheduling flexibility; an unmanaged one signals systemic failure.

Lesson 1 • Spare Parts Strategy and Classification

Introduces criticality-based classification of spare parts inventory. Classification determines stocking policy, reorder logic, and acceptable stockout risk for each part.

Lesson 2 • Inventory Control Fundamentals

Covers reorder points, safety stock, and economic order quantity concepts. Proper inventory control balances holding costs against the risk of stockouts during planned jobs.

Lesson 3 • Parts Planning Integration with Maintenance

Connects parts availability confirmation to the scheduling readiness gate. Integration prevents scheduling work that cannot be executed due to missing materials.

Lesson 4 • Storeroom Organization and Control

Establishes best practices for storeroom layout, access control, and part identification. A well-organized storeroom reduces kitting time and prevents parts loss or damage.

Lesson 1 • Continuous Improvement in Maintenance

Embeds structured improvement cycles into routine maintenance management. Sustained improvement requires formal review cadences, ownership, and progress tracking.

Lesson 2 • Benchmarking and Gap Analysis

Applies internal and external benchmarking to identify performance gaps. Gap analysis translates benchmark findings into prioritized improvement initiatives.

Lesson 3 • Root Cause Analysis Methods

Introduces structured RCA techniques for recurring failures and significant events. RCA converts failure data into corrective actions that prevent recurrence.

Lesson 4 • Data Collection and Reporting Systems

Covers how to capture accurate maintenance data and present it in actionable reports. Reliable data collection is a prerequisite for any meaningful performance analysis.